Texas volunteer firefighters question state support

Published 9:43 am, Monday, June 10, 2013

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Volunteer firefighters say they need more help from the state, just as Texas lawmakers plan to withhold millions from a fund dedicated to their departments.

A bill awaiting Gov. Rick Perry's signature would provide $18.5 million for the next two years from the Volunteer Fire Department Assistance Fund for the Texas A&M Forest Service, the Houston Chronicle reported (http://bit.ly/13wYiYt ). The forest service will provide about $12.5 million in grants to departments and use the rest to cover its own costs, the newspaper reported.

That's well-short of the $150 million in estimated requests for funding that remain unfilled, according to Chris Barron, the president of the State Firemen's and Fire Marshals' Association of Texas.

"If there was a more pressing time for this issue, it was this session," said Barron, who is also the chief of an Austin-area volunteer fire department. "Yet here we are again, still puzzled about why the Legislature hasn't stepped up to the plate to support our volunteers."

Barron estimates that more than three-quarters of Texas' firefighters are volunteers. Many of their volunteer departments rely on shoestring budgets and have to raise their own money to stay afloat.

A key resource is the VFD Assistance Fund, which was created in 2001 and relies on revenues from insurance and fireworks taxes. The fund paid out about $23 million a year to departments until 2011, when lawmakers cut back to just $7 million a year paid out, according to Jason Keiningham, a program coordinator for the forest service.

The fund will have an estimated balance of $81 million by the end of this August, according to the state comptroller. Barron said more of that money should go to departments, instead of staying on the books to help balance the state budget.

Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, told the newspaper that he pushed for the same thing.

"We're taxing people for volunteer fire department assistance, but we're only using a fraction of that," Simpson said. "To not allow those funds to be used for the purpose that they were intended is a shame."